Sex abuse survivors demand GOP support for bill

Child Victims Act would expand statute of limitations

February 27, 2018 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Kathryn Robb makes a point during the gathering outside state Sen. Marty Golden’s office in Bay Ridge. Photo courtesy of New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators

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A group of protesters that included survivors of child sex abuse demonstrated outside Republican state Sen. Marty Golden’s district office in Bay Ridge Monday morning to demand that the lawmaker throw his support behind legislation to make it easier for victims to seek justice years after the crime is committed.

The protest outside Golden’s office at 7408 Fifth Ave. was organized by New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators (NYAHP), a coalition of organizations, advocates and sex abuse survivors fighting to change the law.

The demonstrators said they want Golden (R-C-Bay Ridge-Southwest Brooklyn) to support the Child Victims Act, a bill that would expand the criminal and civil statutes of limitations for child sex abuse cases. The proposed legislation would also create a one-year window for previously unaddressed civil claims to be heard in court.

Under current New York state law, once they turn 23 years of age, victims of child sex abuse can no longer file a criminal complaint or seek civil court claims from an attack that took place years earlier.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo included the Child Victims Act in his 2018 executive budget.

Getting Republican support for the bill is a key to the bill’s ultimate passage because the GOP controls the state Senate, advocates said.

Marci Hamilton, a founding member of New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators and the CEO of the group CHILD USA, said New York State has among the most restrictive child sex abuse laws in the country. As a result, Hamilton said, the law offers more protection to sexual predators than to victims.

“The Child Victims Act will break the hidden culture of abuse that plagues our communities, while also giving victims their day in court. The state Senate should follow Gov. Cuomo’s lead in embracing the importance of this bill and putting it up for a vote. The Child Victims Act will shine a spotlight on thousands of New York’s hidden predators and put power back into the hands of victims,” Hamilton said in a statement.

Kathryn Robb, a founding member of New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators, said survivors want action from elected officials.

“Any senator who refuses to support the Child Victims Act has total disregard for a victim’s right to seek justice. Survivors have been silenced for decades, but we have seen an unprecedented wave of support and encouragement in the past year that gives us hope this long overdue bill will be passed once and for all. We are stronger together, and we will not tolerate silence and inaction from our leaders any longer,” she said.

Monday’s protest was part of a larger campaign by New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators to put public pressure on Republican state senators to support the bill. The coalition has also held demonstrations on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley in recent months.

John Quaglione, Golden’s deputy chief of staff, said the state senator and his fellow Republicans are fully committed to helping victims of child sex abuse obtain justice.

“Time and time again the Republican-led Senate has authored and approved common-sense measures to protect children from sexual predators, and they will continue to do so. There are a number of similar proposals on this issue that remain under review. In recent years, Senator Marty Golden has joined his colleagues in the Senate in approving legislation that restricted the definition of statutory consent for sexual relations in a school setting, criminalized computer sex crimes and prohibited registered sex offenders from working with children,” Quaglione told the Brooklyn Eagle in an email.

Quaglione pointed out that in 2006, the state Senate passed a New York version of Megan’s Law, a bill mandating convicted sexual predators to register their home addresses with law enforcement authorities when they move into a community.

“This is an important and serious issue, and the members of the New York State Senate, including Sen. Golden, are committed to doing even more to punish dangerous sexual predators and protect the children of New York. Everyone agrees that everything should be done to help those who have been sexually abused transition from being a victim to becoming a survivor. The question is how best to do that,” Quaglione said.